diff --git a/test/conformance/testdata/conformance.yaml b/test/conformance/testdata/conformance.yaml
index 499129ab1df..652d0f62928 100755
--- a/test/conformance/testdata/conformance.yaml
+++ b/test/conformance/testdata/conformance.yaml
@@ -1957,14 +1957,6 @@
     restart count to 1.
   release: v1.9
   file: test/e2e/common/node/container_probe.go
-- testname: Pod liveness probe, container exec timeout, restart
-  codename: '[sig-node] Probing container should be restarted with an exec liveness
-    probe with timeout [NodeConformance] [Conformance]'
-  description: A Pod is created with liveness probe with a Exec action on the Pod.
-    If the liveness probe call does not return within the timeout specified, liveness
-    probe MUST restart the Pod.
-  release: v1.9
-  file: test/e2e/common/node/container_probe.go
 - testname: Pod liveness probe, using http endpoint, multiple restarts (slow)
   codename: '[sig-node] Probing container should have monotonically increasing restart
     count [NodeConformance] [Conformance]'
@@ -1977,14 +1969,6 @@
     everytime health check fails, measure upto 5 restart.
   release: v1.9
   file: test/e2e/common/node/container_probe.go
-- testname: Pod readiness probe, container exec timeout, not ready
-  codename: '[sig-node] Probing container should not be ready with an exec readiness
-    probe timeout [NodeConformance] [Conformance]'
-  description: A Pod is created with readiness probe with a Exec action on the Pod.
-    If the readiness probe call does not return within the timeout specified, readiness
-    probe MUST not be Ready.
-  release: v1.20
-  file: test/e2e/common/node/container_probe.go
 - testname: Pod readiness probe, with initial delay
   codename: '[sig-node] Probing container with readiness probe should not be ready
     before initial delay and never restart [NodeConformance] [Conformance]'
diff --git a/test/e2e/common/node/container_probe.go b/test/e2e/common/node/container_probe.go
index 20aa75b8e87..529e2225e31 100644
--- a/test/e2e/common/node/container_probe.go
+++ b/test/e2e/common/node/container_probe.go
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework"
 	e2eevents "k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework/events"
 	e2epod "k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework/pod"
+	e2eskipper "k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework/skipper"
 	testutils "k8s.io/kubernetes/test/utils"
 
 	"github.com/onsi/ginkgo"
@@ -213,7 +214,10 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("Probing container", func() {
 		Testname: Pod liveness probe, container exec timeout, restart
 		Description: A Pod is created with liveness probe with a Exec action on the Pod. If the liveness probe call does not return within the timeout specified, liveness probe MUST restart the Pod.
 	*/
-	framework.ConformanceIt("should be restarted with an exec liveness probe with timeout [NodeConformance]", func() {
+	ginkgo.It("should be restarted with an exec liveness probe with timeout [NodeConformance]", func() {
+		// The ExecProbeTimeout feature gate exists to allow backwards-compatibility with pre-1.20 cluster behaviors, where livenessProbe timeouts were ignored
+		// If ExecProbeTimeout feature gate is disabled, timeout enforcement for exec livenessProbes is disabled, so we should skip this test
+		e2eskipper.SkipUnlessExecProbeTimeoutEnabled()
 		cmd := []string{"/bin/sh", "-c", "sleep 600"}
 		livenessProbe := &v1.Probe{
 			Handler:             execHandler([]string{"/bin/sh", "-c", "sleep 10"}),
@@ -230,7 +234,7 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("Probing container", func() {
 		Testname: Pod readiness probe, container exec timeout, not ready
 		Description: A Pod is created with readiness probe with a Exec action on the Pod. If the readiness probe call does not return within the timeout specified, readiness probe MUST not be Ready.
 	*/
-	framework.ConformanceIt("should not be ready with an exec readiness probe timeout [NodeConformance]", func() {
+	ginkgo.It("should not be ready with an exec readiness probe timeout [NodeConformance]", func() {
 		cmd := []string{"/bin/sh", "-c", "sleep 600"}
 		readinessProbe := &v1.Probe{
 			Handler:             execHandler([]string{"/bin/sh", "-c", "sleep 10"}),
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/skipper/skipper.go b/test/e2e/framework/skipper/skipper.go
index 265dd0afa6e..dbe0214a9fa 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/skipper/skipper.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/skipper/skipper.go
@@ -46,7 +46,10 @@ import (
 // New local storage types to support local storage capacity isolation
 var localStorageCapacityIsolation featuregate.Feature = "LocalStorageCapacityIsolation"
 
-var downwardAPIHugePages featuregate.Feature = "DownwardAPIHugePages"
+var (
+	downwardAPIHugePages featuregate.Feature = "DownwardAPIHugePages"
+	execProbeTimeout     featuregate.Feature = "ExecProbeTimeout"
+)
 
 func skipInternalf(caller int, format string, args ...interface{}) {
 	msg := fmt.Sprintf(format, args...)
@@ -145,6 +148,12 @@ func SkipUnlessDownwardAPIHugePagesEnabled() {
 	}
 }
 
+func SkipUnlessExecProbeTimeoutEnabled() {
+	if !utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(execProbeTimeout) {
+		skipInternalf(1, "Only supported when %v feature is enabled", execProbeTimeout)
+	}
+}
+
 // SkipIfMissingResource skips if the gvr resource is missing.
 func SkipIfMissingResource(dynamicClient dynamic.Interface, gvr schema.GroupVersionResource, namespace string) {
 	resourceClient := dynamicClient.Resource(gvr).Namespace(namespace)